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Heracross has reasonable bulk, great typing, and Guts. These make it a great Rest-Talker. Rest and Sleep Talk for obvious reasons, Bulk Up because Heracross's Unique typing let it set up on stuff like Tyranitar, Conkeldurr, and even Toxicroak. Megahorn is the only attack Heracross needs here, since it gets STAB, is a Physical Move, hits for at least 0.25x Damage on every Pokemon, and well... Close Combat lowers Defense so don't think about it.

Ok, so we like moxie because it gives us and attack boost, which on top of Choice Band is... Boss like...
Mega Horn is the most powerfull bug type move, buuut has shaky accuracy. It's also the only plus 60 power bug type move that heracross can learn...
Close Combat is one of the most powerfull fight type moves, certainly the most risky that he can learn.
Stone Edge Is to deal with flying types and fire types.
Aerial ace is to deal with... fight types? But you could choose return to just get neuteral damage on most
EV's 252 Atk, 252 spd, 4 Hp.

ok, this is a fusion of the low Hp, use reversal thang and the sub punch game.
Substitute to bring you down to low health and maximise Reversal
Reversal for when you have low Hp...
Focus Punch for using the wasted subs...
Mega horn because it prowns.
EV's 252 Hp, 128 spd, 128 atk.

Mmmmm Steel types...

It seems to me, you lived your life like a Litwick in a Whirlwind, never knowing who to Klink to when the Drizzle set in, and i Sudowoodo like to know you, when I was just an Elekid , but the Litwick burned out long before the legend ever did...

Proud Member of "The Triumvirate"
Credit to Gladeshadow

Quite honestly the funniest thing that i have ever heard:

Originally Posted by Zibdas
I thought butter was a type until I was 6. I could've sworn there's a butter type...

Ok, so we like moxie because it gives us and attack boost, which on top of Choice Band is... Boss like...
Mega Horn is the most powerfull bug type move, buuut has shaky accuracy. It's also the only plus 60 power bug type move that heracross can learn...
Close Combat is one of the most powerfull fight type moves, certainly the most risky that he can learn.
Stone Edge Is to deal with flying types and fire types.
Aerial ace is to deal with... fight types? But you could choose return to just get neuteral damage on most
EV's 252 Atk, 252 spd, 4 Hp.

ok, this is a fusion of the low Hp, use reversal thang and the sub punch game.
Substitute to bring you down to low health and maximise Reversal
Reversal for when you have low Hp...
Focus Punch for using the wasted subs...
Mega horn because it prowns.
EV's 252 Hp, 128 spd, 128 atk.

IMO Reversal simply won't work. OU is infested with Sandstorm and Priority, and Heracross is bound to end up in OU eventually. Choice Band would actually work better with Guts, since you can't sweep. Choice Scarf is different, but the main reason Heracross is used is because of Guts. In fact...

Poor Heracross. When he was once the most feared Choice Bander out there in 3rd Gen, he really spiraled downward when new threats like Gliscor and Infernape came along. And that's not mentioning how many of other Heracross's enemies got a boost in 4th Gen, even though Heracross stayed strong... until fewer and fewer people used him. Because of this, Heracross was taken down to BL at best (I think that he was UU for a time...?). Now 5th Gen is here, and Heracross did not gain anything new except Moxie, which increases his attack stage by one after knocking out something. With Moxie, Heracross can keep growing stronger and stronger, but a smart player won't use Moxie, as Moxie Heracross can't absorb any status at all.

Besides the new Moxie, Heracross is the same old Pokemon. It speed ties with Toxicroak (base 85), has a GREAT base 125 attack, and 80 / 75 / 95 defenses aren't too bad. Despite this, Scizor will always overshadow Heracross because of lack of weaknesses, U-Turn, and physical priority in Bullet Punch. However, don't underestimate this guy. He wasn't feared in early 4th Gen (Diamond and Pearl) for no reason, guys.

Abilities:

Guts
Arguably the best ability of choice here. Guts allow him to switch into Burns and Toxic Spikes with relative impunity. Also, Heracross is made as a sleep absorber at times, making Guts the best choice out there when it comes to abilities.Swarm
Heracross's worst ability, which raises the power of Bug-type moves when lower than 33% of health. Only needed for Substitute sets, like Substitute + 3 Attacks or SubSalac, as Heracross will not be statused.Moxie
Boosts your attack by one stage after knocking out someone. It works more in theory rather than in practice, though. Even if it gets Moxie boosts, there will always be more faster Pokemon out there like Infernape to end your sweep. Only use this on Choice Scarf versions, as he really does not have the speed to pull off a Moxie set.

Good old Choice Heracross. They are the most popular sets for Heracross.Close Combat is a great move for Fighting-types, having 120 power, 100% accuracy, and reliability for any Choice item. However, Focus Punch is a good option with Choice Band, as it's a general wallbreaker and hole-puncher with a Choice Band.Megahorn is an incredible attack that has reasonable accuracy, a soild 120 power, and reasonable PP.Stone Edge is for those Flying-type that resist Heracross's STAB combination.
The final choice is for which set you're running. Use Pursuit on the Choice Band to catch fleeing opponents. Use Night Slash or Shadow Claw for the Choice Scarf to hit Ghosts, although they also work Choice Band, too. Finally, Sleep Talk can turn Heracross into a sleep absorber.

Heracross has many problems with his counters, but when he throws up a Sub when the opponent switches, he can either kill him off or weaken him enough for a priority move to finish it off.Substitute is obvious.Close Combat and Megahorn are great STAB choices.Stone Edge hits Flying-types, Night Slash for Ghosts.

Leftovers regains health lost from Substitutes.

16 HP EVs for a Leftovers number. The rest thrown into offenses.

Other Options:

Bulk Up may work, but with the new powerhouses like Conkeldurr and Chandelure, it may not work.

Checks and Counters:

Oh, how the mighty fallen... his large checks and counters only increased here on out. Zapdos, Gliscor, Gyarados, Dragonite, Rotom-A, Tentacruel, Gengar, Jellicent, and Galvantula resist his STAB moves and can fire off a strong attack.

Infernape gets a special mention, as it outspeeds Heracross, has a Fire Blast / Flare Blitz to end his life, and will never be OHKOed by Megahorn, even with Guts, Choice Band, and a critical hit factored in. That says alot. However, the other attacks like Close Combat and Stone Edge will kill Infernape.

Wow

All three abilities are good. Moxie is moxie and well that makes it good. Swarm is good... But Hera OSS isn't really fast which is why it requires. Guts means her across can be another facade toxic orber, and a pretty good one t that

Just a comment. Conkeldurr can't touch Bulk Up Heracross, since all it can do it hit it with a Neutral Stone Edge at best.

Don't forget that Conkeldurr can also Bulk Up along side Heracross, so the damage done won't be bad. And besides; Heracross's strongest attack against Conkeldurr is Low Kick / Megahorn (they do the same damage; Low Kick has 90 power after STAB, and Megahorn also has 90 power, after STAB and 0.5 effective rate). Even still, a +6 Heracross can only do 24.2% to 28.9% to a +6 120 HP / 252 Atk / 136 SDef Conkeldurr with Low Kick. Meanwhile, that same Conkeldurr can do 45.3% to 53.5% with Stone Edge, 2HKOing after Stealth Rock damage.

Back in 4th Gen, no one would dare burn or poison the Heracross, fearing the Guts. Now that everyone think that Heracross is Moxie but this one isn't, you can switch into a Will-O-Wisp or Toxic and start raping with Scarf and Guts boost.
Close Combat on any Pokemon is never wasted, it's always good.
Megahorn rapes everything as well, with the cost of a little accuracy.
Both of Heracross's STABs are resisted by Flyings and Ghosts.
Stone Edge handles the Flying type, and Night Slash hits the Ghosts.
Choice Band seriously wrecks things up and Choice Scarf gives you Guts boost some terrifying speed.

Kinda self-explanatory. Boost your attack with a move of your choice.
Unfortunately you can only have Stone Edge or Night Slash, what would you like to hit? Ghosts or Flyings? Pick.
Moxie keeps the attack boosts going, and Guts will help against Burn/Poison.

This is personally my favorite set. I've seriously swept entire team with this set. Sub to your Salac and tear things up. This lets you outspeed a lot of Pokemon while keeping your movepool versatile and not locked into a move. Stone Edge is preferred over Night Slash for extra power.
30 HP IV gives you exactly 300 HP.

Substitute keeps you safe, while throwing off 150 STAB Focus Punches off of 125 base attack. Certainly not something you would want to pass up.
The other side of the 'prong' is EndureReversal.
Endure to one HP and hit crazy hard with +1 Speed and a base 300 Attack (200 Reversal + STAB).

The fact that Heracross has both Flail and Reversal makes this set so deadly. With the insane power of these moves at low HP, you can KO the first pokemon easily. I threw feint in there because the foe in any competitive match will send up a priority-user, BUT with the boost from Moxie, you'll probably be able to KO it with a priority Feint... and get another boost from Moxie.

If you're creative, don't copy and paste this into your signature (Started by 3.14kachu).

Countering Heracross
-Speed is an issue, even with Jolly+Salac. 171 Pokemon have higher Base Speed and most, if not all, can carry a Flying Type Move in some way (37 of those have STAB Flying).
-Rain Teams will benefit from no-miss Hurricane. Something to note is that Whimsicott can Hurricane and carry Prankster, so...
-Pranksters get special mention for harassing 'cross (and its partners) with non-Status-Effect Status Moves like Leech Seed, Stealth Rock, or Memento. What's worse is that a Prankster-Assist turns the Randomly chosen Move into a Priority as well, making Purrloin a bit more dangerous if the opponent went all-out with attack moves...
-Physical Fire and Psychic Moves, plus Psyshock, will be hazardous to 'cross's health. Many Pokemon can carry either or both, making a Water Type with Flamethrower potential that much more risky to come into. That said, 'cross can't properly switch out to a Flash Fire Pokemon against a Water Type with a Fire Move if the opponent senses that switch. With so many Dark Types to back Fighting Types up, Psychic Type Moves will not be seen as much, but are still widely usable.
-Pressure Pokemon will suck down Megahorn and Close Combat's PP faster than you can say "Heracross used Struggle." Dusknoir, Aerodactyl, and Spiritomb are great to switch in to 'cross's STAB and backup Moves, but beware of Neutral Megahorn with Spiritomb, Neutral Fighting and Super-Effective Stone Edge/Rock Slide with Aerodactyl, and Night Slash/Shadow Claw with Dusknoir.
-Gengar, Drifblim, and Mismagius can deal with most of 'cross's offense except Shadow Claw, Night Slash, Stone Edge, and Rock Slide. EQ and Fighting STAB are free switches for them, so beware.
-Cofagrigus and Cursed-Body-Ghost Types will mess with your Ability and Moves, respectively, plus Jellicent and Cofagrigus carry significant defensive capabilities to screw with your 1HKO potential.
-Weezing, Weak Armor Garbodor, and Intimidate Pokemon will mess with Heracross's EQ, Speed, and Attack Stat, respectively, while being nuisances to 'cross's backup if you switch.

Overall, Heracross needs to tread lightly when moving in/out and hit hard enough for a 1~2HKO when the opponent makes a switch. Zoroark is not recommended as backup due to 'cross's Fire and quad-Flying weaknesses being neutral hits on the Illusion Fox.

Heracross! what great unique typing!
I can't think of a set that wasn't already said but I have an overview
Moxie in generation V has brought heracross the ability to be a great revenge killer. Plus its uni

Heracross has awesome Attack, iffy Speed, and a nice physical movepool. Perfect Choice Scarf material. Megahorn and Close Combat are for STAB. Close Combat and Shadow Claw together provide unresisted coverage. And Earthquake is just awesome.

Either one of Heracross's regular abilities can work here. Swarm boosts the power of Megahorn if Heracross's HP is low. And since it's a choiced Pokemon, there'll be a lot of switching going on, almost certainly with Stealth Rock active. Guts means that foes will have to think twice before burning Heracross or laying down Toxic Spikes. Moxie is not only illegal on Heracross at the moment, but not too ideal on a Choice Scarf set. There'll be a lot of switching going on, making the Attack boosts moot.

This is a more defensive Heracross. While it seems an odd choice to make a defensive Pokémon out of something that can be OHKO'd by Peck or Wing Attack, it's doable. Heracross sports a surprisingly decent Special Defense stat, and its HP doesn't totally suck. Investing maximally in those two stats works nicely along with Bulk Up's boosts to the other two stats that matter in this set: Attack and Defense. Rest and Sleep Talk are for instant recovery, as well as ensuring that Heracross isn't total dead weight as it sleeps off the damage. As a bonus, Guts activates with Sleep now, so that makes Heracross even more deadly when asleep. As for the attacking move, Night Slash is the way to go. On a set like this, you want a move that nothing is immune to. Ghost types would laugh if you ran Brick Break. Megahorn, while getting STAB and having no immunities, is also hampered by its iffy accuracy and low PP count. Normal-types laugh at Shadow Claw, Ghost-types scoff at Return, Aerial Ace, Rock Tomb, and Smack Down are too weak, and Flying-types, stuff with Levitate, and anything holding an Air Ballon laughs off Earthquake. Rock Slide is an option, but its accuracy has let me down a little bit.

Guts is the only thing you should be considering for this set. Even if the set did rely on allowing Heracross's HP to remain within range for activating Swarm, this set boasts no Bug moves. And Moxie is illegal with Sleep Talk. Also illegal without Sleep Talk at the moment, for that matter.

Wow. Just... wow. Looks even worse in writing than I thought. I put this here to prove a point that should already have been driven home by Heracross's base 40 Special Attack; don't even try running a special sweeping set with it. If you're stupid enough to actually try this... well, Focus Blast and Struggle Bug get STAB, and so does Vacuum Wave if you hate Focus Blast's accuracy (though in all honesty that's the least of this set's problems), HP Ghost and Focus Blast provide perfect coverage, and the last slot contains, no joke, the remainder of Heracross's special movepool. Not counting Snore, if you want to get technical about it. Yeah. Don't do it.

And Swarm is listed as the only ability for two reasons. One, Struggle Bug needs all the help it can get. And two, its other two abilities boost its Attack, a stat it doesn't use here.

Like I said, Heracross has pretty nice typing and Special Defense, so a support set can be used. Megahorn is a good attacking option, as it even operates at a respectable 90 BP if X2 resisted. However, Seismic Toss offers more consistent damage (though this allows you to be walled by Ghosts), while Brick Break can shatter any screens the opponent may have. Toxic is a way Heracross can hit anything that may wall him and stall out from there. In slot three, Substitute isthe primary choice, as Heracross can come in on something, who will almost always expect it to be an offensive variant, allowing Heracross to get up a free Sub on the switch, furthering its Toxic damage. Protect is also nice, as it lets Heracross run the Toxic + Protect strategy. Knock Off is another great option, as it can cripple sweepers by ridding them of their item (usually Life Orb or a choice item), reducing their effectiveness. It can also knock items off walls, which could be especially useful against Eviolite users. Rest is there if Heracross needs extra health. The last slot allows Heracross to boost its frailer physical defense so it can function better as a wall. Iron Defense gets the job done quicker, while Bulk Up can be used to boost either Megahorn or Brick Break's power. The fourth moveslot also means Heracross can take hits better on both sides of the spectrum even while using Rest, so it needn't worry the two truns of sleep. Leftovers is the obvious choice of item, and the nature and evs allow Heracross maximum special bulk so it can take hits on both sides of the spectrum after it sets up a few Iron Defenses or Bulk Ups. The ability doesn't really matter if Seismic Toss is your only move, though Guts can be useful if Heracross is satused and is running Megahorn or Brick Break, while Swarm is solely if using Megahorn (Moxie isn't compatible with all the moves).

essentially a lead sweeper which seems to be kind of rare with the likes of ferrothorn and swampert. focus sash allows set up, if taunted, it can still hit hard, the only problem for this guy is stealth rocks or spikes.

major counters include ghost types like gengar...if allowed to set up, even bronzong, metagros and skarmory will have a hard time walling it...maybe alomomola might be able to pp stall it..

The fact that Heracross has both Flail and Reversal makes this set so deadly. With the insane power of these moves at low HP, you can KO the first pokemon easily. I threw feint in there because the foe in any competitive match will send up a priority-user, BUT with the boost from Moxie, you'll probably be able to KO it with a priority Feint... and get another boost from Moxie.

Tyrantiar, Hippowdon, and Abomasnow says hi, with their damaging weather. Also, Lucario can still take it out, due to it's dual typing Fighting-Steel. It may only have 70 / 70 / 70 defenses, but it's still sturdy enough to take a select few hits. Also, Roar and Whirlwind will force your hard work to nothing again. Hippowdon can survive any attack outside a critical hit, Slack Off, and kill you with sandstorm.

And Feint is extremely weak. Don't consider it unless you really want to put it on him.

I'm leaving for summer camp in an hour so I am only posting my favorite (and in my opinion, most useful) set as opposed to the sets that heracross can effectively run.

The fighting beetle, Heracross, has been a premier physical attacker ever since its introduction in the second generation. Though it has had periods of reduced usage due to issues with its stats (such as its lackluster Speed), it has, at the very least, kept the tools to get the job done. By making good use of its Guts ability to freely absorb status and subsequently threaten just about everything in the game, it is one Pokemon that can create quite a headache given the chance. Having the amazing double STAB coverage of Close Combat and Megahorn doesn't hurt either. While its defensive stats are not superb, it does have a few worthwhile resistances to its name. Don't underestimate the Hercules beetle, as it can be quite the nasty surprise for any unprepared team in the 5th generation.

With stats of base 85 Speed and 125 Attack, and two powerful STAB moves to abuse them with, Heracross is a prime candidate for a Choice Scarf. When looking at Heracross one cannot forget Guts, which is among Heracross's biggest selling points, as it gives Heracross the ability to switch into almost any status move and get an Attack boost. This ability is not something to take lightly, especially considering that with the Speed increase gained from a Choice Scarf, it can quickly become an amazingly powerful threat. Close Combat and Megahorn are Heracross's infamous STAB combo and have surprisingly good synergy together—alongside Stone Edge, Heracross can hit almost everything in the metagame for at least neutral damage.</p>
The last moveslot is reserved for pseudo-trapping foes that Heracross can hit super effectively trying to escape. Pursuit hits Pokemon as they switch out and is useful for taking out Pokemon weak to it, such as Latios and Starmie, but Night Slash is also notable for its ability to 2HKO Jellicent, which would otherwise wall Heracross. Night Slash also fills the role of a more accurate alternative to hit Psychic-type Pokemon hard. Adamant is the preferred nature on this set due to Heracross already being able to outspeed everything it needs to with a neutral nature and the damage increase from running an Attack-boosting nature helps it hit as hard as possible. It is possible to run a Jolly nature, most notably to outspeed Timid Scarf Heatran, but it is not recommended.

Toxic has some merit in the fourth moveslot for possibly crippling walls Heracross could never break or just putting a timer on other Pokemon. Pokemon like Vaporeon, Zapdos, and Hippowdon who could otherwise stall you out with their respective healing moves are all forced to switch out lest their poison damage gets too high, and thus become much easier to deal with.

Pokemon who have trouble with Grass-, Psychic-, or Dark-type Pokemon all appreciate Heracross's ability to come in and immediately threaten them. Even the bulkiest of Pokemon, such as Reuniclus, can be easily dispatched with a STAB move if they dare to stay in on Choice Scarf Heracross, assuming they have taken a little bit of prior damage. Pokemon who will greatly appreciate its ability to do this feat are Psychic-type teammates such as Mew, Azelf, Celebi, Latios, and Latias who generally dislike fighting opposing Psychic- and Dark-type pokemon while all also easily breaking through the physical walls Heracross has trouble breaking through by itself. Water-type Pokemon such as Politoed, Vaporeon, and Swampert, all of whom appreciate Heracross's ability to take out Grass-type Pokemon, also make great partners, as Heracross resists their Grass-type weaknesses and they resist Heracross's Fire-type weakness, while at the same time being able to break through Heracross's biggest nightmares, such as most Fire-types, Gliscors, and possibly Skarmory. Politoed in particular is useful as it also brings Drizzle on the field, which cancels out Heracross's Fire-type weakness, while Vaporeon can pass a Wish to a weakened Heracross and potentially bring it back to full health.

DREAM WORLD OPTIONS:

Heracross receives the ability Moxie in the Dream World, which unfortunately is as of yet unreleased. Each Pokemon Heracross defeats (with an attacking move) allows it to boost its Attack by one stage each. While Guts gives Heracross the pleasure of switching into many status moves such as Jellicent's Will-o-Wisp, Moxie is a reliable way of boosting and sweeping without sacrificing Hit Points. Keep in mind that both Guts and Moxie have their standing advantages, and Moxie is in no way superior to Guts. Moxie is arguably best used on the Choice Scarf and Substitute sets, where Heracross can safeguard itself with higher Speed or a Substitute.